Fall Back

Since it's going to be close to 70 degrees out tomorrow I feel the need to do a fall recap.  I was feeling like I missed my chance when it was freezing and snowy last week!  So many fall/Halloween festivities...don't know where to begin!

Our new friend the praying mantis

Nick at the annual Easton Sheep Pasture Harvest Fair - so brave! 

Playing with our new friends/neighbors Maeve and Emanuela on a beautiful indian summer day

Carving pumpkins...once again, Daddy had the best ones on the block!

One of my favorite things that happened this fall is we got that huge, beautiful mum for FREE!!  Cuz the kid working the cash register at the apple picking farm didn't know how to ring it up!  Score.

Em's 9th family bday party.  So proud that this beautiful, smart and funny girl is our niece/cousin!

Nick the animal lover

A trip to Winslow's Farm and Animal Sanctuary with the Daley cousins

Weeeeeeeeee!

LOVE this picture!  They all have the same smile!

BFFs.  Uncle Pete kept walking ahead on the "spooky" trail and jumping out to scare the kids...the older ones thought it was the best thing ever



OK.  That's enough.  What time is it?  Pats on at 4?

Thank you for DESTROYING my beautiful FREE plant Mother Nature!!!  That pumpkin is so angry that he has snow and a plant on his head!

Sawyer's birthday party.  Of course we took 25 pics trying to get everyone to smile...yeah right!!!  This is my fave because Chelsea looks so darn cute. (Sophie, Christian, Maggie, Emily, Aiden, Chelsea, Nick, Charlotte & Sawyer)

Nick's farm field trip...pumpkin hunt!

Chrysanthi, Nick and Mikey

Silly kids...well, it was Mommy's idea to put the hay on their heads.  I always feel like I am going to get in trouble when I attend school events!  I totally made up for it when I sat criss-cross apple sauce with my hands folded in my lap during the sing-along.

Finally!  The BIG DAY!!!  They were BEYOND excited to go out trick-o-treating this year.  Such troopers wearing the mask and wig the entire time (hence Chelsea's being a sloppy mess since the crown keep getting tangled in it, so hard to be a princess).

And Tommy dressed up as a ferocious tiger...this cat followed us around the neighborhood like a dog the entire time we were out trick-o-treating.  What a weirdo!!!!

Soccer and Dance Saturdays Begin!

Deep Conversations

Oh boy.  Nick was in some sort of deep mood on Tuesday.  A couple of conversations that went on that day...

1) While Nick and Chelsea were petting Tommy...

Nick: Tommy is my brother
Chelsea: No, Tommy is my brother
N: He's both our brother.  And I have 3 sisters; Queenie and Gracie are my sisters that are cats and you're my sister that is a person.  And someday soon Chelsea you're going to be a wife.  And I am going to be a man.

"Someday soon"???  Sloooooow down!  Mommy's not ready yet.

2) While driving to the playground...

Nick: Mommy, how were you born before me?
Me: Because Nana had me in her belly and then I was born.  And then when I grew older I had you.
Nick: But how do the doctors get the babies out of the bellies?
Me: (big sigh) Ummm. (Might as well just go for it).  Well, babies can come out two different ways.  Some come out of their Moms' vaginas and some babies heads are too big, like you and Chelsea, so the doctors have to cut a hole in the Moms' bellies and then they pull them out. 
Nick: But did it hurt when they cut the hole in your belly?
Me: No, they put stuff on it so it wouldn't hurt.
Nick: Oh.  Did it hurt when they put the stuff on?
Me: No, not at all.
Nick: Oh. Are we going to the playground with the big slide?
Me: Yes. (Huge sigh of relief).

Gotta love kids and the way that their minds work.  I will forever be in awe of the way their little brains want to know so much and can can soak it all up.

Party pics

We had another reptile show for Nick's birthday party this year.  This time there was less talk about not using snakes to make purses and more about how frogs feel slimy like boogers...much better!  The kids were totally engaged (and most of the adults were too!) and Nick had a blast.  After the show we had pizza and cheese breadsticks from Papa Gino's (Nick's all time fave) and then a water balloon toss.  It took Ryan about 45 minutes to fill a bucket full of water balloons...and it took the kids about 5 minutes to pop them all!  Then on to what is becoming the traditional "giant chocolate chip cookie cake" - despite some murmurings about the squishy, half-cooked middle, there wasn't one bite left of the two pans that I made...(everyone loves a little raw cookie dough once in a while!)  Nick is a man of routine so I won't be surprised if I am making these "cakes" for him on his 18th birthday!!

Papa and Addison were the first to be brave with the slimy frog!

Needless to say, the snapping turtle did not get passed around!

This is about how close Chelsea got!

It's easier to blow out the candles when you aren't grinning!!!!

Slight overreaction by Mommy in this video!  Nick took it all in stride.

Cinco!!

Nicholas turned the BIG 5 yesterday!  He even looks like he got bigger over night.  When he woke up yesterday morning he said, "Look how much bigger I am now" and later on, "Look how much higher I can jump now that I am five!!!".  He is so proud to be five and we are so proud of him.  He brightens our days with his humor, energy and knowledge and his smile that lights up the room.  Everyone always tells us what a pleasure he is and we feel very lucky that we get to experience it every day. 

So what better day than his birthday to spoil him rotten and let him do whatever he wants?!  He started the day off with longer than usual Wii playing time, then a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast...heated up with lots of butter of course.  The usual morning stuff and then off to mini-golf! 

No holes-in-one this time but the kid has got a pretty mean putt.

After golf he tried the batting cage for the first time (slow-pitch softball)...

Forget t-ball...this kid is ready for the big leagues!

All that hitting (and missing) really works up a thirst...so we threw out the "no snacks right before lunch" rule and got a slush.  Yum.

Lunchtime brought us to the same every day quandry...jelly sandwich or fluff sandwich?  He went for the fluff and Mommy didn't make him eat an apple (or "something healthy") with it.  After lunch we made cookie dough so that he could have (another) "giant chocolate chip cookie cake" after dinner later.

We LOVE made-from-scratch raw cookie dough!!!!

After naps and a quick trip to the doctor so that we could get Chelsea's sore mouth looked at ("just a virus" - ugh), we waited for Daddy to get home and it was back to the batting cages so we could show Daddy how fun it is.  Despite his arms practically falling off because of the heavy bat, Nick would have stayed there all night long.  Gotta love the perseverance.  Plus, Mommy and Daddy were hungy, so next stop...The Charlie Horse!!!!  Nick's mecca.  And we don't mind it either because the food is really good and the mudslides are incomparable!

They LOVE this motion video ride.  Once again, would stay on it all night long...and we'd let them...if it didn't cost $3 for 1.5 minutes!!!

Back at home it was another round of chocolate chip cookie "cake" and singing.

We love you baby boy!  Here's to a great year of being BIG and FIVE!

(Party pics coming soon).

Papa Boot Camp

This one brought back memories of my Dad leading us and half the neighborhood in parades up and down the driveway...not sure who was having more fun, the kids or him!

The Great Escape

We had our first Wagner/Daley vacation this year in the Outer Banks, NC...8 adults, 5 kids...all in one house!!!  Everyone had a blast and Nick has asked at least once a day since we got home, "when can we go back to the North Carolina house with Emma & Drew?"  We basically beached it every day with some mini golf, go-karting, bumper cars, fishing, basketball, sightseeing, Duck Donuts, sand dune climbing, etc. thrown in here and there.  And of course, nightly Texas Hold 'Em poker tournaments and adult beverages once the kids went to bed!  We will forever treasure the memories we made in South Nags head, at our house...The Great Escape!  A few pics and videos below...so hard to choose...more to come later!

Nick really found his swimming legs on the trip!

Of course the big boys had to show off playing on the kiddie sized basketball hoop...